The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), a
ninety-year-old NGO with ECOSOC consultative status, welcomes the
opportunity to comment on the recommendations made by UN
Secretary-General (SG), Mr. Kofi Annan, in his report to the General
Assembly, In Larger Freedom: towards development, security and human
rights for all (A/59/2005).

WILPF has supported the United Nations since it’s inception. We
continue to support the basic principles enshrined in the UN Charter
and seek greater effectiveness of the UN, and the full and rapid
implementation of all of its multilateral agreements and treaties. The
SG’s recommendations are far-reaching and deserve serious consideration
by all UN Member States as well as by, and with, civil society as a
whole. We therefore believe that time must be allocated to study the
proposed recommendations, and in particular those that will affect the
structure of the UN and consequently its Charter, which remains the
fundamental document that binds us.

We welcome the recognition in In Larger Freedom of the need for
significant governmental commitment to “a new security consensus based
on the recognition that threats are interlinked, that development,
security and human rights are mutually interdependent.” Since its
foundation in 1915, WILPF has used a similar comprehensive approach in
its work toward the peaceful settlement of conflict, the eradication of
the causes of armed conflict, and for the building of the foundations
on which a permanent peace can be constructed. This includes respect
for all human rights for all - gender equality, equality among and
within nations, the right to development - all in greater freedom. We
urge Member States to use a comprehensive human security approach as
they formulate their priorities, including the conceptualization of the
Peacebuilding Commission, Human Rights Council, the definition of
terrorism and the use of force and reform of the principal organs of
the UN.

Human Security and Gender Equality
Integral to a human security approach is the use of a gender
perspective when considering issues of development, security and human
rights. WILPF urges Member States to formulate all their priorities in
light of the governmental commitments to the achievement of gender
equality and women’s empowerment in the Beijing Platform for Action and
the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW).

Civil Society Participation in the September Summit
We are also exceptionally concerned about the lack of civil society
input at the national and international level into the outcomes of this
report. . At the World Leaders’ Summit in September 2005 there needs
to be a segment for civil society participation and involvement, as
well as mechanisms to feed into any outcome document. Achievement of
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and the goals and principles
of the UN more generally, is not possible without the full engagement
of civil society.

Peacebuilding Commission
A Peacebuilding Commission would best serve the cause of peace if it
had a focus on prevention of conflict and serve as an early warning of
emerging conflicts. There will only be success in this if broad
consultation and cooperation with civil society, in particular women
peacemakers, is built into the mandate of such a Commission.
Furthermore, gender must be mainstreamed through the peace and security
work of the Commission, as required in ECOSOC Resolution 1997/2 and
2004/4, and called for in UN SCR 1325 on women, peace and security.
WILPF envisions the Commission as a forum for the consideration of
conflicts that are not on the Security Council’s agenda. The
Commission could also provide a venue for long-term peace strategies to
be built through hearings with all actors involved in the provocation
and maintenance of conflicts, including state actors, International
Financial Institutions, the private sector, arms suppliers and
manufacturers, and those who are involved in the extraction and selling
of local natural resources.. Lastly, any Peacebuilding Commission that
is created must be resourced, and not impinge, or detract resources
from the entities within the Secretariat already devoted to peace
support operations.

Human Rights Council
WILPF is of the opinion that the erosion of credibility of the
Commission on Human Rights lies in the absence of political will of the
Member States to integrate a human rights framework into national level
legislation and law, not in the structure and architecture of the
institution. Further, we are concerned that due to current political
realities, the proposed Human Rights Council would focus on civil and
political rights while potentially ignoring economic, social and
cultural rights. Finally, WILPF supports the recommendation to provide
the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights the necessary
resources in order to perform its mandate to the fullest, and suggests
that instead of creating a new mechanism, Member States instead work to
fully implement the goals and objectives of the Economic and Social
Council, which includes encouraging universal respect for human rights
and fundamental freedoms.

Nuclear Disarmament
Since it’s inception, WILPF has called on governments to totally and
universally disarm. While we welcome the recent convention on nuclear
terrorism, we also recognize that this does not deal with the growing
reliance on nuclear weapons in national security strategies. The
growing threat of vertical and horizontal nuclear proliferation clearly
falls under the Secretary-Generals proposed definition of terrorism,
because nuclear weapons by their very nature are designed to
“intimidate a population or to compel a Government… to do or to abstain
from doing any act”. WILPF continues to urge member states to come to
an early conclusion on a verifiable fissile materials cut-off treaty.
WILPF also urges Member States to strive for universality and fully
implement their commitments under the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. WILPF also supports the provisional entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and urges Member States to ratify this
treaty as soon as possible.

Development
WILPF fully supports Member States reaching their target of 0.7 per
cent for official development assistance, and urges them to shift their
national budgeting priorities away from military expenditures towards
development assistance. Beyond development assistance, WILPF urges
full debt cancellation, and in particular, for HIPC countries. With
regard to trade, WILPF, for 90 years, has expressed concern about
systems of economic exploitation In recent years WILPF has opposed any
extension of negotiations leading to further trade liberalization; we
have called for an international trading system that will enable all to
live in dignity with access to essential resources. We believe that
UNCTAD is the body that should be authorized to construct such an
international trading system. WILPF is also concerned about the open
invitation to corporations to become more involved in development, and
recommends that this only move forward if there are transparency and
accountability measures fully in place. Lastly, WILPF does not support
the Global Compact with corporations.

UN Reform
WILPF is concerned that some of the specific reform proposals run
contrary to the democratization of the UN. While we support the
expansion of the Security Council we urge Member States not to create
new divisions by creating new categories of membership. WILPF does not
support the veto power of the five recognized nuclear weapons states,
and urges the General Assembly to investigate how this veto power
prevents substantive action on the part of the Security Council. WILPF
also encourages the Security Council to be more transparent and to
increase the number of Arria Formula meetings with civil society, and
find creative ways to work in collaboration with both state and
non-state actors in preventing conflict.

We are concerned that some of the structural reforms and
recommendations advanced in the annex of In Larger Freedom might lead
to more military interventions and detract attention from attempts to
eliminate the root causes of armed conflict. All commitments made on
UN reform at the World Leaders’ Summit in September 2005 and in the
coming years must be based on existing commitments and international
law.

WILPF will continue to support the United Nations and the full
implementation of its Charter. We look forward to opportunities for
further dialogue on these wide-reaching proposals.